NaruHina: Faith & Trust
by Ranmano1fan
Summary: This story reflects what I think should've happened after Hinata confessed her feelings to Naruto. Please leave a comment if you wish to do so, thank you. NaruHina paired. Enjoy! Written for a special person in my life who is a big fan of NaruHina.


**NaruHina****: ****Faith & Trust**

By: Ranmano1fan

I do not at any time claim ownership of the manga/anime of Naruto or it's characters. They rightfully belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I am only borrowing them and will return them when I am finished. Thank you and enjoy the story.

* * *

_"Because... I love you."_

It was those words that changed their lives forever. How could either of them have known that such a small phrase could have set in motion events that nobody could have seen coming. And after it was said neither of them looked back.

Hinata said that she loved Naruto in a moment of self-strength and self-sacrifice, fully willing to lay her life on the line for him rather than to let him die by Pain's(or Pein's) hands. Her selfless act triggered the fox demon transformation in him, first bringing out 6 then 8 of the demon's 9 tails, but this also brought the young man face-to-face with his father, the 4th Hokage, albeit only in his inner consciousness before the transformation could be completed. Thanks to her, Naruto finally got to meet his father and find out why the 9-tails was sealed inside him. Because of her courage, the boy was able to gather up the will he needed to defeat Pain, find the puppet-master pulling the strings, stop Konan and Nagato and end the battle that had nearly destroyed the Leaf Village. And her confession allowed Naruto to become what his father had always hoped his boy would be recognized as: a hero.

When the village was rebuilt and activities were able to return to normal, things were far from what can be called normal for Naruto and Hinata. The 2 young ninjas started to secretly see more and more of each other during the time they had between missions and they grew closer and closer together. It was in secret because Hinata's father did not approve of Naruto all that much, despite what he has done for the village. Very few people knew they were dating, the ramen shop owner being the most knowledgeable, having served them many dinners.

Soon the weeks turned to months and the months turned into years and through those years together the 2 of them exchanged their affections for each other numerous times and at the age of 21 Naruto and Hinata were deeply in love. But unfortunately their occupation was bound to get in the way.

Naruto had been assigned an S rank mission that would require him to be away for nearly a year and that did not sit well with Hinata.

"Couldn't they assign that mission to someone else?" she asked on the last night they were to be together for some time.

The young man looked at her with sorrow in his eyes, "I wish they would, but this is a high priority mission. They even formed a new team specifically for it. Sakura was as surprised as I was."

"Sakura's going?" wondered the young woman.

"Yeah, she is," replied Naruto, "She didn't want to be pulled away from her duties just like I don't want to be pulled away from you."

Hinata looked into his eyes and could see he was telling the truth. She knew Sakura was not called on missions anymore after she became the youngest kunoichi to be name head of the medical ninja corps a few years ago. This worried her a little bit, because she remembers there was a time when her boyfriend had a major crush on the pink-haired ninja and that crush was mutually felt by Sakura for some time while they were all teenagers.

Hinata turned her head away slightly and lowered her eyes to the ground, "Will I hear from you while you're gone?"

He didn't answer the question right away and that forced the blue-haired girl to turn her head back around and look at him again and she saw he had dropped his eyes to the ground.

Then he told her, "I'm not entirely sure, the squad is to keep contact with the village down to a bare minimum."

"Then I'm coming with you," she said in a confident tone, "I'll go instead of Sakura, that way she can keep teaching and I can be with you."

Naruto looked at her, gave her a smile and placed his hand on her cheek, "You don't think I tried that already? I suggested you be assigned to the group instead of Sakura, but I was told it wouldn't be a good idea and that the squad needed a medical ninja of the highest training to go in case there was some heavy fighting."

Hinata did not like the explanation all that much and turned away from her boyfriend, lowered her eyes again and crossed her arms across her stomach.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

The young woman started to cry silent tears as she answered, "I'm worried I won't ever see you again."

The blond ninja responded with a cocky chuckle, "This is Naruto Uzumaki you're talking to. I'm gonna be Hokage someday and I can't do that if I don't come back from this mission. So don't worry, Hinata, I'm coming back."

The girl stayed motionless, unsure whether to believe him or not.

Naruto walked up behind her, put his arms around her waist over her hands, placed his cheek against hers and whispered in her ear, "I'll come back, I promise."

"You promise?" she repeated, asking him to be sure she heard him right.

Hinata felt him remove his arms from around her waist as well as pull away his cheek. She wholeheartedly expected him to turn her around, look into her eyes and repeat the promise again, but that's not what happened. Instead she could feel something being put around her neck. The young woman reached up and felt the pale sea-green stone between her fingers and realized Naruto just gave her the necklace from around his own neck. She turned around and saw he was smiling at her and she returned that smile.

He told her, "Hold onto that for me, ok? That way I'll have a another reason for coming back."

Hinata giggled as she put her arms around his neck and brought herself closer to him, "I'll guard it with my life."

Then the 2 ninjas shared the first of many kisses and more between them that night as they stayed together until the sun rose the next morning and Naruto set off on his mission, more determined than ever before.

* * *

It has been 9 months since Hinata last saw Naruto's face and hasn't heard any new word from his squad for nearly 2 months and her fears that he might be gone from this world have been set in her mind for weeks. She stood in front of the window of his apartment, her apartment, _their _apartment, looking out on Konoha, worried for her boyfriend and for the rest of his team.

While she stared out at the landscape she absentmindedly placed a hand on her bulging belly. It was because she was pregnant that she moved into Naruto's apartment in the first place several months ago. When Hinata's father learned of his daughter being with child, he was outraged because she had told him the father was Naruto. The man forbade her from having the baby and in a fit of hormone-strengthened anger she stormed out of the Hyuuga home and did not look back. She first stayed with Kurenai-sensei, but when their squad had to leave on a mission the young kunoichi could not join them, no matter how much she wanted to go she couldn't put the baby in danger. It was then when her mentor mentioned she move into Naruto's place and stay there until he came back, the older woman was positive he wouldn't be against it. Using what money she had, plus some her teammates had given her, Hinata made the place a cozy little home for when he came back.

Then the girl moved her hand up and wrapped it around the pale sea-green stone hanging around her neck and remembered the promise that he made to her the night before he left. Day in and day out she has waited for his return, and deep down, her faith and trust in him never wavered in the slightest. That was when she noticed some commotion going on outside.

When she opened the window she heard someone say, "Did you hear? Naruto's team is at the gate."

_'Naruto...' _thought the girl as a smile flashed on her face.

The young woman closed the window and made her way to the front door as quickly as she could and locked it, so not to reveal her occupancy of his home. It wasn't long before she heard him outside his apartment, unlocking the door. She thought quickly and by using a transformation jutsu, she turned herself into a potted plant in the corner by the window.

Opening the door, the blond ninja walked in and threw his pack against the wall, glad to finally be home. As Naruto got further into his apartment he took off his orange and black jacket and tossed it onto the floor, leaving him with a black t-shirt on. Then he removed his kunai pouch and dropped it next to his jacket. That was when he noticed something about his apartment: it was clean. There should have been a layer of dust on everything since he was gone for so long, but there was no dust anywhere. He then saw there were things that weren't there when he left, like potted plants and a vase of flowers in the window among other things. He went over to the fridge and opened it and was surprised to find it fully stocked with fresh food.

"What the...?" he asked outloud, sounding very confused as he scratched his cheek.

Closing the fridge, Naruto made his way over to the potted plant in the corner and examined it. It was very leafy and green and looked to be well taken care of.

"I don't remember you being here," he said to the plant as if expecting a response from it.

The young man turned and tried to figure out what was going on with his place and why it was so clean. He took 2 steps and stopped, because he heard a faint giggle behind him to go along with the sound of leaves rustling. Naruto did an about-face and stared at the seemingly silent potted plant with squinted eyes. The boy got up very close and bent down even closer to examine it. Before he knew it the plant exploded in a puff of smoke and the ninja was taken off his feet by a happy tackle.

"Welcome home," said Hinata as she gave him a hug.

"H-hinata? What are you doing here?" he asked her, sounding more confused than before.

She looked at him with her pale purple eyes and told him, "I've been waiting for you to come back to me."

"But in my apartment?" wondered the boy.

She giggled, "Of course. Where else would I be?"

"I don't understand," replied Naruto as he looked at her.

The young kunoichi pulled herself away from her boyfriend and revealed to him her belly bulge. This brought about a face full of shock and surprise from him.

"Wait, Hinata...are you? But...you're not? You...can't be...can you?" stuttered the blond ninja, unable to string the words together as he looked back and forth from her belly to her eyes.

Hinata pressed 2 fingers to his lips to quiet him and gave him a "Shh." Then she smiled, looked into his blue eyes and said, "Yes, I am."

"And is it?" he wondered.

The girl nodded and added, "It is."

The young man's face lit up with a big smile and he pulled her into his arms and cuddled her tight.

The girl laid her head on his chest and said, "I'm so glad you're happy about this."

He chuckled, "Why wouldn't I be?"

His response made her giggle. They laid there upon the floor for who knows how long, her warmly in his arms, as they held onto this moment for as long as they possibly could.

"Hinata?" asked Naruto finally.

"Yes?" she replied, looking up at him.

"You remember the necklace I gave you?" he wondered.

"Oh," said the girl as she reached behind her, "You want it back, right?"

He shook his head, "Mm-mm. I want you to have it. Think of it as an engagement ring of sorts."

She gave him a confused look, "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is... Hinata, will you marry me?" he answered.

The young woman began to happily cry as she said, "Yes, I will."

Looking at his future bride with a smile on his face, Naruto told her, "I love you."

Gazing back at him, Hinata replied, "And I love you."

And the 2 ninjas shared a deep and passionate kiss to signal that their two, separate futures will be entwined together as one for as long as they both shall live.

**The End**


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